Aerator with screen insertable from downstream end



Oct. 4, 1966 I E- P. AGHNIDES 3,276,697

AERATOR WITH SCREEN INSERTABLE FROM DOWNSTREAM END Original Filed Aug. 2. 1961 FIG. i. w

INVENTOR 45 Elie P. Aghnides ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,276,697 AERATOR WITH SCREEN INSERTABLE FROM DOWNSTREAM END Elie P. Aghnides, 795 5th Ave., New York, N.Y. 10021 Original application Aug. 2, 1961, Ser. No. 128,802, pow

Patent No. 3,130,915, dated Apr. 28, 1964. Divlded and this application Aug. 16, 1963, Ser. No. 302,683

6 Claims. (Cl. 239-4285) This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 128,802, filed August 2, 1961, entitled Aerator Having an Enlarged Stream Outlet, now Patent No. 3,130,915, having issued on April 28, 1964.

This invention relates to aerators and more particularly to aerators of the type adapted to be attached to the spout end of a water faucet. Such aerators convert the solid stream of water in the faucet into a coherent jet of aerated water laden with numerous small bubbles. Basically such aerators comprise an upstream diaphragm which produces one or more jets of water, and one or more downstream screens which finely break up the water, mix the broken water with air and discharge it as the aforesaid coherent jet laden with numerous small bubbles. The

moves the parts without noticing the correct order in which they were stacked, and is therefore unable to replace them inthe proper order, whereby the aerator does not function properly after reassembly.

The main object of this invention is to provide an aerator which overcomes the aforesaid disadvantage.

Another object of the invention is to provide an aerator in which some of the parts will fit into the upper end of the aerator only, and other parts will fit into the lower end only, so that it is impossible to insert them incorrectly.

Another object of the invention includesthe provision of a novel method of assembly of an aerator which prevents incorrect reassembly by the housewife.

Another object of the invention is to provide a larger water outlet than has heretofore been commercially found feasible.

In carrying out the aforesaid objects, I provide a casing which has threads adjacent its upstream end for attaching the casing to a faucet. Downstream ofthe threads the inside diameter of the casing is substantially enlarged. An upstream disc may be inserted in the top end of the casing but is too large to pass therethrough into the enlarged portion of the casing. Moreover, this disc cannot ordinarily be inserted into its final position in the lower end of the casing.

Downstream screens are too large in diameter to pass through the upper end of the casing and can be inserted into the lower end of the casing only by slanting them at an angle to the axis of the casing and inserting them into the casing. Once they are inserted in position, and the aerator screwed onto the faucet, the upstream disc is held firmly against the screens so that the screens may not be removed. Hence it is necessary to remove the casing from the faucet before the screens can be taken out of the casing.

Variations from the single form of the invention just described may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, as will more clearly appear as this description proceeds.

3,276,697 Patented Oct. 4, 1966 "ice In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional view of one form of the invention.

FIGURE 1A is a bottom view of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of a modified form of the invention.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view of another form of the invention.

FIGURE 3A is a view of the screen and its support used in the aerator of FIGURE 3.

In FIGURE 1, the stamped metal casing 30 has internal threads 31 below which the casing has enlarged inside and outside diameters as shown. The casing terminates at its bottom end with an inturned continuous lip 32. The screens 33 and their respective frames 34 have three projections 35 which rest on the lip 32 and thus hold the screens in place. An upstream molded diaphragm 36 provides the usual jet-forming means and has spaced legs 37 which rest on the frame 34.

The screens are inserted into the casing, as more particularly described hereinbelow in connection with FIG- URE 2, from the lower end of the casing. Thereafter the disc 36 is inserted from the top end of the casing and after both the disc and the screens are in place, the aerator may be screwed onto the faucet by means of threads 31. The bottom end of the faucet presses tightly against disc 36 whose legs 37 press against the frames 34 of the screens 33 which in turn press projections 35 on the frames 34 against the inturned lip 32 of the casing. As a result, all of the parts are held firmly in position, and the screens maynot be removed for cleaning until the aerator is unscrewed from the faucet.

As more fully described'in my prior patents, for example, my United States Patent No. 2,998,929, issued September 5, 1961, entitled Water Aerator, the upstream disc 36 projects high velocity streamlets of water onto screen 33, in the presence of air which enters at the downstream end of the casing and passes straight upwardly between projections 35 (FIGURE 1A) and thence between legs 37 into the mixing space.

In'FIGURE 2, casing 20 has external threads 21 and is adapted to fit into a faucet having an internal ledge which is the same :as has been customary for many years in connection with aerators having external threads, When the aerator is threaded onto the faucet, plastic disc 12 has its upper outer upper portion pressed against said ledge in the faucet so that the disc 12 is firmly held against the top endof the casing, as more fully described and claimed in my aforesaid application Serial No. 128,802, now United States Patent No. 3,130,915, granted April 28, 1964, entitled Aerator Having an Enlarged Stream Outlet. Immediately below the threads 21, the casing 20 has enlarged inside and outside diameters, and also has a slot 22 for allowing air to enter. The downstream end of the casing 20 has four small inturned spaced lips 23 (only three of which are shown), on which the frame 24 of the screen 25 rests.

The screen and its frame 24 may not be inserted through the top end of the casing 20 under any circumstances. However, if the disc 12 is removed, the screen and its frame 24 may be inserted through the downstream end of the aerator by slanting it at the angle shown in broken lines, whereby the center line of the screen is nearly perpendicular to the center line of the aerator. In this position, the screen may be projected into the aerator and then rotated until the center line of the screen is aligned with that of the casing, whereby the screens may be placed in their final position in which the frame 24 rests upon the spaced lips 23.

It is not possible for the housewife accidentally to push the screens out of the casing because they cannot be removed from the casing as long as the disc 12 remains in :3 place; in other words, as long as the aerator is installed on the faucet.

In FIGURE 3, the casing 40 has internal threads at its upper end and immediately below these threads there is a ledge 41 upon which the flange 42 of the upstream disc 43 rests; The disc 43 and its flange 42 are the same in all respects as the disc 12, together with its flange, of FIGURE 2.

The casing 40 has an internal continuous lip 44 at its downstream end for carrying the projections 45 located on the frame 46 of the screen 47.

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 3A, the projections 45 include a base portion 48 which is as thick in a vertical direction as the frame itself. There is, as shown, a "shorter or thinner supporting portion constituting a pro- 'jection 45. In all forms of this invent-ion, the screen or screens may be inserted from the downstream end of the casing by slanting it or them, as shown by the broken lines of FIGURE 2, and then moving it or them until the center line of the screen is aligned with the axis of the casing.

In the prior art, aerator bodies made of rubber have been well known, and in these cases it has been customary to insert the screens into the downstream end of the aerator by stretching the rubber outlet end of the aerator while inserting the screen. The present case, however, represents the first instance where the screen has been inserted from the bottom end into a rigid metal casing such as casings 30, 20, or 40.

I claim to have invented:

1. An aerator comprising a cylindrical casing having attachment means adjacent its upstream end for attaching the same to a faucet, said casing having an enlarged diameter below said attachment means, inturned means at the lower end of the casing, jet forming means in the easing spaced above its lower end, and mixing means having a diameter smaller than the inside diameter of the casing as measured adjacent its downstream end, spaced projections carried by the downstream end of the casing for supporting said mixing means, said mixing means being too large to fit into the downstream end of the casing when in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the casing but small enough that it may be inserted therein by slanting it at an angle to the axis of the casing.

2. An aerator as defined in claim 1 in which said mixing means includes said projections which extend outwardly therefrom, said projections being spaced apart around the mixing means.

3. An aerator comprising a cylindrical casing having attachment means near its upstream end for attaching the same to a faucet, said casing having an enlarged inside diameter downstream of said attachment means, generally flat screen means of smaller diameter than said enlarged inside diameter, jet forming means in the casing "spaced upstream from said screen means to thus form a mixing space, carrying means for said screen means comprisingfirst supporting means in the form of a plurality of spaced supporting elements and second supporting means in the form of a continuous supporting element, one of said first or second supporting means being attached to and extending inward from the downstream end of the casing and the other one of said first or second supporting means forming a part of said screen means, said jet forming means having smaller diameter than the inside of the casing at its upstream end so that the jet forming means may be inserted into the casing from its upstream end, said screen means having a diameter too large to permit insertion of the screen means in the upstream end of the casing, the length of said enlarged diameter portion of the casing being suificiently great and the size of the screen means being small enough that the latter may be slipped into the downstream end of the casing when slanted at an acute angle to the axis of the casing 4. An aerator as defined by claim 3, in which said casing has said second supporting means attached to the lower end thereof, and in which said spaced supporting elements are projections attached to and extending outwardly from the screen means and which rest on said continuous supporting element.

5. An aerator comprising a cylindrical casing having attachment means for attaching the casing to a faucet, said casing having an upstream portion of a first diameter and a rigid downstream portion of a second larger diameter, mixing means carried at the downstream end of the casing, said downstream portion having an internal dimension measured at an angle to the axis of the casing which is greater than the maximum dimension of the mixing means so that the latter may be slipped into the casing from the downstream end, supporting means carried by the downstream end of the casing for supporting the mixing means, and jet forming means spaced above the mixing means for projecting water on the mixing means, the space between the jet forming means and the mixing means being in communication with air outside the casing in which said supporting means comprises an inturned continuous lip at the lower end of the casing and projections extending outwardly from said mixing means and resting on said continuous lip.

6. An aerator as defined by claim 5, said casing having a horizontal portion facing a portion of the faucet, said jet forming means resting on said horizontal portion and being clamped between it and the faucet, said jet forming means projecting downstream so far as to prevent removal of the mixing means when the aerator is installed on a faucet.

I References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,541,854 2/1951 Bachli et al. 2,633,343 3/1953 Aghnides. 2,664,278 12/ 1953 Aghnides. 2,842,347 7/195 8 Ripley.

j 2,849,217 8/1958 Bachli et al.

EVERETT W. KIRBY, Primary Examiner. RAPHAEL M. LUPO, Examiner. 

1. IN AERATOR COMPRISING A CYLINDRICAL CASING HAVING ATTACHMENT MEANS ADJACENT ITS UPSTREAM END FOR ATTACHING THE SAME TO A FAUCET, SAID CASING HAVING AN ENLARGED DIAMETER BELOW SAID ATTACHMENT MEANS, INTURNED MEANS AT THE LOWER END OF THE CASING, JET FORMING MEANS IN THE CASING SPACED ABOVE ITS LOWER END, AND MIXING MEANS HAVING A DIAMETER SMALLER THAN THE INSIDE DIAMETER OF THE CASING AS MEASURED ADJACENT ITS DOWNSTREAM END, SPACED PROJECTIONS CARRIED BY THE DOWNSTREAM END OF THE CASING FOR SUPPORTING SAID MIXING MEANS, SAID MIXING MEANS BEING TOO LARGE TO FIT INTO THE DOWNSTREAM END OF THE CASING WHEN IN A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO THE AXIS OF THE CASING BUT SMALL ENOUGH THAT IT MAY BE INSERTED THEREIN BY SLANTING IT AT AN ANGLE TO THE AXIS OF THE CASING. 